2017-18 Summer Newsletter

2017-18 Summer Newsletter

Make The Joint a part of your calendar for 2018

01/24/2018

I’m writing to you from Jerusalem where I’ve been fortunate enough to visit some of our incredible programs that are changing the lives of Israelis living on the margins. Perhaps I’ve been lifted by the mood of the 70th celebrations but travelling around the country to visit our programs this year, I’ve been struck anew by the scale of The Joint’s impact on people living with hardships.

As you know, The Joint is in financial partnership with the Government of Israel whereby every donor dollar is matched by at least two dollars by the government. The Joint designs innovative new programs to address Israel’s most difficult social challenges, pilots the programs to ensure that they’re effective and then hands them over to the government so that they can be rolled out nationally to reach the widest number of people.

Crisscrossing the country to see our projects within the various stages of handover, I came to realise that herein lies the disconnect between The Joint’s profile and its colossal impact not just in Israel but around the world.

Most of the pilot programs that I visited this week— from placing the best teachers in the worst schools to employing deaf Israelis in customer service live chat centres—will go on to change the lives of millions of Israelis when they are scaled up to become part of the national welfare system. And it begs the question: how many people will remember the pivotal role that The Joint played in spawning these innovative government programs? Just as I wonder how many of us remember that it was The Joint that paid for our mother’s ship ticket out of post-Holocaust Europe or gave our grandfather the first loan to start a business in Australia.

The truth is that working behind the scenes to launch the infrastructure that changes millions of lives is often thankless and nameless work. And while The Joint should and must do a better job of raising its own flag, we cannot let The Joint’s humility belie the magnitude of its contribution not just in Israel but for millions of Jews in seventy countries across the globe.

So, in 2018, we hope that you, our cherished supporters in Australia, will not only continue to support our work but also to talk about The Joint, join us on missions, attend our events and make The Joint a part of your calendar.

Our promise to you is that we’ll continue to ensure that your support reaches the widest number of people in the most impactful way, but also that we’ll do more to come out of the shadows and into the sun.

Just imagine if an organisation of this calibre and integrity could find its moment to reveal the full scope and breadth of its involvement in global Jewish responsibility. It’s positively breathtaking, long overdue and we need your help. Please join us!

Eva Fischl OAM

About The Joint

The Joint Australia works locally on behalf of The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). JDC is the world’s leading Jewish humanitarian assistance organization. JDC works in more than 70 countries and in Israel to alleviate hunger and hardship, rescue Jews in danger, create lasting connections to Jewish life, and provide immediate relief and long-term development support for victims of natural and man-made disasters.